I went into watching this with zero expectations and came out really surprised. I love anthology style horror films and have been searching for the best ones for a long time. My personal favorites include Creepshow, Cat's Eye, Tales from the Darkside, Asylum, Tales from the Crypt, Nightmares, The Willies, etc.. This movie manages to be funny and pointless in some parts and really scary in other parts. The wraparound story is so weird that you can't help but laugh at it. I think the scariest story is the second one about the couple moving into the old house. The way they built suspense and atmosphere was excellent and the end was a pleasant surprise as well. The first story wasn't very original but it was fun none the less. The third story was just plain bizarre but was by far the most original and creative out of the three tales. Overall I really recommend a late night viewing of this to anthology film fans. I think a DVD release would get this film the credit it deserves.

"Do you believe in fairies?" the elderly woman in the television set queried. If you now what's good for you, Jeff (or Jeff-ette), you will after taking a gander at this videotape-within-a-videotape-within-a-videotape-within-a-videotape (unless you own the DVD edition.) The movie does not star so much as feature a cast of actors put to the test as they watch video after video after video, and we watch them watching. Then they die (9 out of 10 viewers of Screamtime did not die after watching it, and those who did died of natural causes.) The phrase, "you get what you pay for," is given new meaning as two hooligans steal three videos (thus not "paying for" them), and are then murdered by them, fortunately after viewing them all the way through. These hepcats probably weren't even kind enough to rewind. At least there were no late charges, just late patrons. As in dead!!!

Sometimes when you expect the worst....you get a nice, mild surprise. Something may turn out to not be as bad as you thought it would be. Such is the case with Screamtime. The video box depicts the film as being real cheap and bad, and the opening shots and credits do little to dismiss that impression. Two guys steal three videos and run to some girl's house. Almost instantaneously we are given a view of her naked breasts. Well, at this point you think you have a pretty good idea where the film is going. Then the punk kid/thief sticks a video in the VCR and we start to watch a story about an English puppeteer who lives a life with a wife and stepson who don't love or understand him. They want him to burn his puppets, give up what he has spent his life doing, and move to Canada. The story is nothing like the wrap-around story. It is well-directed, has some decent performances, and even some thoughtful story-telling. The script is not great, but the story is entertaining. Robin Bailey does a real nice job as Jack, the man behind an evil looking Punch and Judy. The story ends, having generated some pretty good jumps and at least some suspense. Back to the the story of the thieves. The footage of them seems like it was shot by some high school amateurs. Then another story. The second story out-classes the rest for it tells a story of a woman and man who just moved into a big house. She begins to see things. The pacing is a bit slow, but the climax is more than ample reward for that small discrepancy. I really was quite surprised by the ending of the story and very pleased with the whole story overall. It was extremely well-executed in terms of direction and performance. Back to the stupid clods again and then on to the third story about a young man and his buddies out to rob two old women who say they live amongst fairies and gnomes. The story is pretty good and the two old ladies are wonderfully played by Dora Bryan and Jean Anderson. The special effects in this story are somewhat lacking. The third story ends and then we see how the wrap-around story ends. It is a ridiculous ending to a whole ridiculous scheme. The film may have faired better if they had someone just host the three stories and introduce them like in Thriller. It certainly would not have hurt. At any rate don't pass this one up if you like some good old British anthology horror story-telling. The stories are very interesting. I can only think that somehow someone made these three stories in England and could not find a "real" distributor and ended up selling them to some fifth-rate film operation.

My brother and I rented this years ago. From the picture on the video box, we thought it was a ral bad, cheap thrills slasher film. Instead it turned out to be a suprisingly good anthology of British horror stories. Good british horror, very creepy and scary without being gory or violent, kind of 'quiet horror'. "Punch and Judy" is only okay, but the other two stories will give you some serious chills! THe only complaint I have about this film is the story-within-a-story concept about the friends renting this video and watching it, and seriously regretting it at the end of the videos. That was unnecessary and stupid. Good luck finding this film, though, I think it is pretty rare.